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Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn´t happen”. Winston  hurchill

If you were to search the internet for “quotes by Churchill” you will find so many it would be appropriate to believe in his genius. And a genius he certainly was; a man of many brilliant parts.

“In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way”. Franklin D. Roosevelt FDR, a true Democrat of the mind and in action. He and Churchill got on quite well despite having exactly opposite views as to how the world should look after the end of World War II… and, as you can see in the above quotes, a very different view of politics!

It is only April and what a year it has been – already!! Mr. Trump governs through Twitter and Executive Orders and Great Britain has initiated its exit from the EU.

The rest of the EU is “troubled” and there are political parties in many European countries fighting hard to follow Britain “out”. Putin is (with not much subtlety) attempting to rebuild an empire; China is playing a very intelligent waiting game (both polite and furious at the same time), Japan is in a recessive slide, Africa remains where it always has been (geografically, economically, tribally and politically), the Middle East and Asia Minor remain in violent conflict with no “happy ending” in sight. Mexico will not pay for “The Wall”, but perhaps the drug barons will, if they can finance this with increased cocaine exports to the US…

So, does this leaves us parts of the Far East, Australasia and finally Central & South America as “beacons of hope”? I don’t include the Nordic countries of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland (and Iceland of course), because they are so disgustingly stable and sensible and healthy; the Norwegians were recently voted the happiest people in the world! HaHa!

So, South America and, more specifically, Chile. “Latinos”… Venezuela is a complete basket case, Brazil is struggling to get past the impeachment of a President and two mega corruption scandals. Bolivia is trapped by its own ideology and vehement attacks on Chile. Colombia (FARC peace agreement signed and approved) and Perú are showing great potential, while Argentina is moving gradually back to “center stage”, but the price is high. Uruguay is hopeful and Paraguay just burned its legislative building…

Does Chile know where it is going or even where it wants to go? And as Chileans, do we know what we want and if so, do we know how to get there? And now, in a presidential election year, we are back in the land of promises; living under the utopia syndrome, as I like to call it.

“All my troubles seem so far away…” (Lennon and McCartney).

When the Norwegians started pumping oil from their North Sea wells they set up a National Investment Fund which today is worth over US$880 billion; not bad for a country of just 5.3 million people. Pension problems solved!

What did Chile do with the millions earned from the “boom years” of very high copper prices? We spent most of it! South America tends to go through “swings” or “cycles”; from left to right and back again. However, some issues must transcend politics in a democracy: health, public education, infrastructure, defense (national and domestic!), old age pensions and a sense of humor… The latter being an absolute necessity…

Reviewing the “world order” (something I am most definitely NOT qualified to do) does help one arrive at a couple of conclusions: Chile is the most astonishing country to live; its natural beauty is unsurpassed. Chile is the most annoying country to live in; its true potential simply cannot be harnessed, in large part because we consistently think so “short-term”.

I remain, resolute in my desire to live in Chile and to make a difference – but not in politics, never in politics. Politics: “Poli” a latin word meaning “many” and “tics” meaning “bloodsucking creatures”…

The late, great Robin Williams

Santiago Eneldo ([email protected])[:]